JOHANN LAMONT yesterday urged SNP backbenchers to stop sounding like sports host Jim White and his “Why are you so good?”interview with Brian Laudrup.

In a speech yesterday, the Scottish Labour leader said the parliament, which first met 14 years ago, was now a “teenager” and had to “grow up”.

But she claimed that the SNP were afraid to have an “adult debate” about the big issues like cuts in services.

Her speech to the Scottish Fabians at Glasgow Caledonian University demanded a new maturity at Holyrood.

She said: “We have to display a quality that the current Nationalist leadership seem bereft of. We need to act like adults and have an adult debate.

“The Scottish Parliament should not be the place where government backbenchers get to ask of ministers the Brian Laudrup question – just why are you so good?

“It should be the forum for a proper, robust, intelligent, intellectual debate which reflects the needs and aspirations of the people of Scotland.”

TV sports anchorman Jim White has been the subject of ridicule ever since his question to Rangers legend Laudrup in 1995.

And soft questions from backbench SNP MSPs to Alex Salmond at a recent appearance at First Minister’s Questions include, ‘What are the implications of the Queen’s speech for Scotland?’, ‘How are communities benefiting from the proceeds of crime act?’ and ‘What is the impact of Tory welfare cuts on Scotland?’

Lamont said: “I am not complacent about the referendum but I hope we don’t just win it but win it well.

“Then we can stop having an argument about powers we don’t have and start debating what we do with the powers we have.”

In March, a leaked report from Finance Secretary John Swinney warned that independent Scotland would be heavily reliant on fluctuating oil prices and pensions and welfare might be cut when those resources begin to dry up.